Stuck

It's been about 10 years now since the two halves of Levity and Perspective joined forces
and I thought it would be fun to share what I consider an important moment in our relationship.
Before I shed some light on this particular moment, a little background information.

One of the fun things about having a kid with Down Syndrome is that the diagnosis comes
with a host of other medical issues. One complication that Maggie had dealt with was frequent
choking. Due to this, my wife, myself, and Maggie's older sister have gained more than a
passing familiarity with the Heimlich maneuver. After several doctor appointments, 911 calls,
and more than a few PTSD inducing choking events, it was decided that in order to counter this
issue Maggie would need vascular ring surgery to reroute her esophagus.


Maggie had already had several hospitalizations due to chronic aspiration pneumonia, a mitral valve repair, an AV canal repair as well as a diaphragmatic hernia. When I say several hospitalizations I don't mean like a couple of dozen. For the first few years of her life she was in the hospital nearly as often as not. I learned all of this second hand as I was not yet in the picture. This surgery would be my first venture in to the wonderful realm of inpatient care.

At this point we had been together for several months and were in love. It was wonderful, but I had been in love before. I did not know yet that this was going to be the big one. I remember the moment that I came to this realization.

Maggie was having her central line dressing changed. This was located in her neck and as far as I understand, was a line that fed directly into her aorta. Probably a fairly routine procedure when done on a willing patient. Due to Maggie's inability to understand what was going on, she would not be a willing participant. Imagine trying to thread a needle, but you are performing said needle threading on horseback at a gallop, also if you miss the eye of the needle your needle can bleed to death. Nurses really are amazing.

I myself had no idea what was about to unfold but began to gain the smallest bit of understanding as my wife prepped the nurses. I remember the phrases, "Don't underestimate her strength" and "we'll need more people" being repeated several times. Part of me thought that five adults to restrain a 9 year old child seemed excessive. But the confidence with which the woman that would eventually become my bride spoke caused me to believe that we may be short handed.

Don't worry she made it. We had her raking leaves within the hour.

What transpired next would forever redefine the words love, trust, and strength to me.

As the nurses held Maggie down and performed their duties, my better half held our daughter's face and reassured her. Maggie did not understand the procedure but she knew that it hurt and she was afraid. She fought with every ounce her little body could muster. The nurses were nearly outmatched. They performed admirably.

I have never felt more useless. As the nurses and Maggie and a woman that I'd only known for a few month's struggled, a shameful thought occurred to me.

I could just leave.

Everyone was distracted and I could be halfway to the parking lot before anyone even noticed I was gone. This was too much, WAY too much for me too deal with. I wasn’t ready for this.
Up to this point in my life I'd never dealt with anything this scary or intense. I'd had relationships aplenty, but I'd also done a pretty solid job of avoiding anything that smacked of any REAL responsibility or sacrifice. This blatant display of love, bravery, trust, and raw emotion was a lot to process.

She told Maggie it was all going to be OK. She told Maggie that it was almost over. She told Maggie that she was safe. She told Maggie that she knew that it hurt and she was sorry.
Maggie believed her, Maggie trusted her. This was a situation that the woman that I was in love with had been in several times and she kept doing it; she did it over and over and over again. She would face this every day for the rest of her life if necessary. I had never seen such strength. I never would again.

All thoughts of flight disappeared. Cowardice was replaced with a steely determination to stay as close as possible this woman for the rest of my life. I was stuck. Not stuck in a bad way; like in a cage with 5 rabid koalas. Stuck in a good way, like on a couch with 3 happy sloths and a new season of (whatever you're into).

On my best days I feel like I stand in the shadow of her courage. I'll never not be impressed with her. She is the most amazing person that I’ve ever known and in knowing her, I am becoming a better me. I’m not proud of the me that she initially fell in love with nigh a decade ago. The me that saw a scared Maggie and wanted to flee; but I’m getting pretty happy with the dude that has been created, in no small part, by her love.

She is way out of my league, I hope she never figures that out.

Cheers

L&P

10 Minutes (Adventures in Maggie Rearing Vol. 4)

For those of you not in the know about parenting a kid with special needs, we have to keep our head on a swivel. All day every day. From the time we wake up to... well also while we are asleep, when we sleep. We don' really sleep.  True this can be said of the parenting experience on the whole but I find that the times I let my guard down for Maggie related issues the consequences are especially trying.  Take for instance the morning routine.

6:15 Wake up and begin coffee, breakfast, and making lunches.

6:30 Starting waking the 6 year old up.

6:45 Deliver 6 year old her breakfast and first outfit choice.

6:47 Remind 6 year old her breakfast is getting cold and present second outfit choice.

6:49 Dry 6 year old's tears because she hates the first two outfits, remind her that breakfast is getting cold, attempt to find (weather inappropriate) outfit request.

6:55 Reheat breakfast because it's TOO COLD and explain that the requested clothes are dirty but we can wash them for tomorrow. Help 6 year old into outfit choice 1.

7:00 Deliver Maggie's breakfast, turn on Abba Pandora.

7:02 Remind the twins that it's not TV time yet. Attempt 1 at getting boys to eat.

7:09 Remove all art supplies from the 6 year old, remind her that breakfast is going to get cold again and begin the shoe struggle.

7:11 Remind the twins that it's not TV time yet, feeding attempt 2.

7:15 Begin tooth brushing odyssey.

7:20 Take the 6 year old to school

7:30 Remind the twins it's still not time for TV, feeding attempt 3, and get boys dressed... where did you get a sword?

7:35 Help Maggie get dressed.

7:38 Stop the bleeding, seriously, where did you get a sword?

7:45  Put out the fire (for legal reasons please assume that this is a metaphor)

7:50 Begin watching for the bus.

Now we enter the danger zone and where we get the title for this particular blog entry. Part of the deal with having a kiddo with special needs is that the bus picks her up at the house rather than having to strut her out to a bus stop. For the last several weeks the bus has shown up pretty much right at 8:00 am. It's not uncommon that we miss the bus for reasons that are out of our control. The following is not a complete list but should give you an idea of some of the things that can take longer than tem minutes to remedy and may result in Maggie missing the bus.

• Foodmergency (cold)
• Twin Brawl
• Cat-aclysm
• Foodmergency (hot)
• Pokemeltdown
• Pootasrophy
• Apparel mishap
• T.V.engence
• Egg Failure
• Wafflop
• Shoebacle (hot)
• Total System Failure
• Under caffeination
• Udder caffeination
• Laundry adversity
• Act of God (Abrahamic) 
• Slips
• Spills
• Band Aid Snobbery
• Act of Gods (Hindu)
• Blatant disregard for authority
• Missing socks
• Blight
• Disco Fever 

  The bus driver, a lovely woman, and I have developed a system wherein I give her a thumbs up or thumbs down regarding whether or not we will be utilizing her services that morn . If I'm not at the window then it is likely that someone overslept, someone has a fever, or we are scraping cat innards off of something.

To be clear, I'm not blaming the bus driver for the days that Maggie misses the bus. Nor do I have a better solution for getting her to school on time. Well, not one grounded in reality at least. But just for fun lets say; drone delivery, self driving car, griffin, and magic banana.

The only reason that this is an Adventure in Maggie Rearing is because I arbitrarily selected Maggie's bus pick up time as a snapshot of our home. It could have just as easily been an adventure in punctuality; but I love that picture of Maggie too much to not use it. 

I hope you enjoyed this peak into our home.

Cheers,

L&P

Of Coffee & Love

Recently my wife and I have decided to expand our definition of marriage. Now don’t worry, we aren't about to join the ranks of the poly-amorous like the sister wives, or the brother-husbands, or swingers, or anything that may lead to any kind of disease ridden goofiness. We have however decided to bring Coffee into the sanctity of our wedded bliss.

we are making it official

This love does fly in the face of traditional Judeo Christian values. However the march towards progress requires society to evolve. Our love for Coffee, while not recognized legally, yet, is valid. Even if it does not fit into the mold that society has formed for acceptable relationships.

I can hear the typical straw man arguments, “If you let people marry Coffee, then next they will be marrying energy drinks, alpacas, and state parks.”

           Well that is just stupid, energy drinks are not yet at the age of consent, alpacas don’t believe in committed relationships, and state parks are filthy filthy whores. I mean have you seen that thing that Yellow Stone has on it? Get that thing lanced or something!

           My wife and I are a strong couple and we have been capable of handling all of the trials that life has handed us thus far. The main reason that we have decided to allow Coffee to join us in wedded bliss is that we wish to recognize the contribution that Coffee has had in our lives.

           Here is a short list of the many times coffee has been our own personal jebus.

• Maggie awakes at ungodly hour, Coffee allows us to function the next day
• Merritt awakes at an ungodly hour, Coffee allows us to function the next day
• Oliver awakes at an ungodly hour, Coffee allows us to function the next day
• William awakes at an ungodly hour, Coffee allows us to function the next day
• I can’t sleep due to worrying about whether or not Maggie, Merritt, Oliver, or William will wake up at an ungodly hour, Coffee allows me to function the next day.
• My wife can’t sleep due to me not being able to sleep due to worrying about whether or not Maggie, Merritt, Oliver, or William will wake up at an ungodly hour, Coffee allows her to function the next day.
• I feel cranky because EVERYONE IS ALWAYS CRYING! Coffee helps me to be nice.
• My wife feels cranky because EVERYONE IS NEEDY ALL THE TIME! (especially her husband) Coffee helps her to be nice.

   Now the question that is probably on everyone’s mind is will we be letting Coffee into our bed? First of all, stop being pervy, second of all the answer is no. Obviously. We already spend about 30% of our waking hours dealing with laundry. Coffee is notorious for staining. This is not a sex thing, it’s about respect. We respect Coffee’s contribution to our lives, and we feel it is important to make an honest beverage out of Coffee.

L&P

She Gets Me

Thus far this blog has been host to a few of my random ramblings, social commentary, and a little bit about my family.  I'd like to take this opportunity to post about the other half of the Levity and Perspective as she is my greatest inspiration.  Not only in this blog, but also in life.  Since you reader are learning a bit about me though my posts, it seems fitting that you also learn about my other half.

My wife and I connect on a level that is so deep that others would have an easier time understanding Hamlet read in Klingon than the way that she and I communicate with one another.  This can be demonstrated by the fact that I must focus when outside of my home in order to communicate with other adults due to the fact they are not operating on the same level as my wife and I.  This does not mean that I feel that we operate on a higher level, like we are more evolved (we totally are), but a different level.

Example:

Co-worker: Have you seen my blue pen?

Me: Do clowns freak you out?

Co-worker: What?

Me: Clowns, are they or are they not a soulless entity spawned of nightmares, anxiety, and ground beef gone bad?

Co-worker: Did you hear that I asked about my pen?

Me: There are more important matters at hand. I need a hammer the Clownocalypse is nigh!

Now in the context of my home, my mention of face painted demons pretending to be entertainers would not have derailed the conversation at all.  I will take you through the steps so that you can see what I mean.

My co-worker was wearing scrubs, which made me think of the television show Scrubs.  This made me think of the Scrubs episode which featured Colin Hay from the band Men At Work performing the song Overkill.  Colin Hay and Men At Work reminded me of the movie of the same name starring Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, and voice actor Kieth David.  Kieth David was the voice of Spawn in the HBO animated series.  The villain in that series was a demonic clown (I realize that calling a clown demonic is redundant so don't bother pointing it out).

This guy seems legit though

 Had I been having this conversation with my wife, she would have connected most of if not all of the same dots that I had and the conversation would have been more like this.

Wife: Have you seen my blue pen?

Me: Do clowns freak you out?

Wife: Totally! We need hammers!

Me: Yeah we do!

Now she may not have picked upon the Spawn reference as comic books are not in her wheel house, nor is professional wrestling.  Not that there were any wrestling references in that journey but it is worth mentioning.  I'd like to take a moment of silence for all of the awesome Ric Flair jokes that I've made that fell flat in my home.

Woooooo!

Now I said earlier that we operate on a different level.  Some may look at my mental process and think that we are just two people with ADHD that happen to have a lot of common reference points for the chaos pinging around in our noggins to bounce off of.  Well to you I say that I have yet to have been diagnosed and will continue to operate under the assumption that I am just a faster thinker than average.

Now that I bared a lil bit-O-my'soul, I am feeling vulnerable and will go hug my wife.  She will know why without asking.
 In closing I would like to make the following recommendations to improve society as a whole.

• A weird fetish must be revealed within three dates.  That's the window.  After that you are stuck zealously guarding your browser history for the duration of the relationship.  Weirdo.  (in NO way applicable to my wife and I)
•  Pomegranate is delicious but a pain in the ass to eat.  Eating pomegranate is more of a hobby than a snack.  Want to fix that Monsanto? 
• If someone is wiping their face in order indicate that you have something on your face remember, they are a mirror, if they wipe the left side of their face then you wipe the right side of yours.  It's not a guessing game, they are showing you exactly where it is, take the hint.

L&P